I'll start this off by doing the non-spoiler review, followed by the spoiler riddled side. I shall note when the spoiler side kicks in.
So, first off I have been a comic fanboy for many many years. X-Men of course being one of the ones I identified with rather quickly, especially once I was diagnosed with cancer. So I have a pretty strong knowledge of the history of the X-Men. When watching the trailers, I was a bit confused by the presence of one X-Men in particular. Mainly due to the the story's time frame. During the Cuban missile crisis, in the 60's. This character is the young Alex Summers. Who in the comics is the younger brother of famous Scott Summers, ie Cyclops. Now how is he in the 1960's, if he's the younger brother, of a character who in later (time wise) is barely born yet.. Okay so they decided to take some liberties. This is of course my biggest fear when it comes to comic to movie translations.
Given the overt amount of liberties that were taken in the previous X-Men movies. Jubilee being replaced with Rogue, Iceman, Kitty Pryde, Pyro all being teenagers in the time settings of the movies. Okay moving past those issues. There were more issues I had just visually with the trailers of the movie. The way Beast looked, the fact that Emma Frost's clothes would alter when she would change forms, but then magically return as she reverted. I set these all aside when I actually sitdown in the theatre to watch the movie.
It opens with a reminder of previous movies, but then takes off into it's own story. I must say watching the storyline progress from beginning to end, was done quite well. The actors were all great in their roles, they did a goodjob casting. The storyline is even decently accurate to the real-life timeline. Everything was done very well, I caught everyone in the theatre not talking, with eyes affixed to the screen. I rarely even saw a hand grab for popcorn, save my own.
Despite being based off the X-Men movies, that seriously went down the drain after the second movie. This movie made me quite happy, enthralled, and good about the series again. I am truly hoping they just relaunch the whole deal from here on. Ignoring the previous trilogy.
Summary, Go see this movie, it's a great movie.
SPOILERS AHEAD, TURN BACK NOW IF YOU DON'T LIKE SPOILERS.
SERIOUSLY SPOILERS.
Turn back now, here there be Monstars!... er Mutants!!
Alright then, there were MANY great cameos from actors and even characters. Story begins in a Nazi camp, recreating the scene in X-Men where we see a young Erik Lehnsherr, bending an irongate after being separated from his parents. It is immediately after that we get introduced to the main bad guy for the rest of the story. Kevin Bacon, won't use the name he goes by during the Nazi segment, as it changes soon after. Than we get introduced in the same year to a very young Charles Xavier, who finds a very young Raven Darkholm aka Mystique. This begins an interesting storyline between Charles and Raven, growing up together. Don't know if this happened in the comics, but, it did create a rather interesting relationship.
Most of the rest of the storyline takes place during the Cuban missile crisis, as previously stated. However, we findout that the whole crisis is being created and manipulated by the Hellfire Club, fans of the series during the 80's and more recently during Emma Frost storylines in the comics know this name. Lead by Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon), seconded by Emma Frost aka the White Queen, played by January Jones (very sexy woman in this movie). From here we get introduced to Moira MacTaggart (Rose Byrne) followed by the rest of the characters. I won't go through the entire plot.
There is a spot where we get introduced to a group of mutants Charles and Erik are recruiting. At one point they walk into a bar that seems like it's possibly in japan, china, or just a restaurant of said. Walking up to the bar, they begin to introduce themselves to a seemingly grumpy individual in plaid, with dogtags and a peculiar haircut who says to "Fuck off". Ie, say hello to Wolverine, played by Hugh Jackman. Further in Michael Ironside even drops in, and says his legendary line "It was a pleasure to serve with you.".
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Bethesda, Fail?
Buddy of mine was interested in the game Hunted The Demon's forge. It was a game, I'd not looked into much. It's published by Bethesda, which would make one hope it would be good. Well, had that issue with Fallout NV, and Brink. Two games not MADE by Bethesda, but published by. Hunted is the same way, it was made by iNXile, Bard's tale was their doing. Again this game seems to have failed in the same way that New Vegas and Brink failed. They needed just a bit more time to finish up and get more fully polished.
Now I have not actually played Hunted, but reading over 15 other critic's reviews of it, they all said about the same thing. Which is pretty much what was also said about Fallout NV. It is a fun game, but bogged down by some seemingly small, yet numerous amount of issues that should have been found and tweaked. I have seriously begun to wonder why Bethesda, a company who has made many a good game. Is allowing their names to be attached to games that are not finished, and thusly not "good" games.
I am wondering if it is either Bethesda themselves, or their parent company ZeniMax that is possibly pushing these games out before the developer's can fully finish the game. Making the developer stick to a static time frame window. Fallout New Vegas, Brink and now apparently Hunted, all have the same problem. They needed a few more months of actual out of house beta testing. Meaning needing someone or a group of someones who did not make the game play it through to find the bugs developers wouldn't notice.
This is making me quite worried for future games coming out of Bethesda, published by and developed by. The next upcoming games Rage and Skyrim are being made by more experienced companies. Although Obsidian is decently experienced, just not that old. Rage is being developed by ID, makers of Doom. Rage is a brand new IP for them, which already looks amazing, and all previews have shown it to be this as well. So here's hoping a 4th time.
Then of course we have Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. This is actually being made BY Bethesda this time so, if the issue lies with Bethesda pushing the other developer's to know their time frames better, then we shouldn't worry. But again who knows, letting games come out that need help like the previous three. Really makes many on the fence or tight fisted gamers rather nervous.
Now I have not actually played Hunted, but reading over 15 other critic's reviews of it, they all said about the same thing. Which is pretty much what was also said about Fallout NV. It is a fun game, but bogged down by some seemingly small, yet numerous amount of issues that should have been found and tweaked. I have seriously begun to wonder why Bethesda, a company who has made many a good game. Is allowing their names to be attached to games that are not finished, and thusly not "good" games.
I am wondering if it is either Bethesda themselves, or their parent company ZeniMax that is possibly pushing these games out before the developer's can fully finish the game. Making the developer stick to a static time frame window. Fallout New Vegas, Brink and now apparently Hunted, all have the same problem. They needed a few more months of actual out of house beta testing. Meaning needing someone or a group of someones who did not make the game play it through to find the bugs developers wouldn't notice.
This is making me quite worried for future games coming out of Bethesda, published by and developed by. The next upcoming games Rage and Skyrim are being made by more experienced companies. Although Obsidian is decently experienced, just not that old. Rage is being developed by ID, makers of Doom. Rage is a brand new IP for them, which already looks amazing, and all previews have shown it to be this as well. So here's hoping a 4th time.
Then of course we have Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. This is actually being made BY Bethesda this time so, if the issue lies with Bethesda pushing the other developer's to know their time frames better, then we shouldn't worry. But again who knows, letting games come out that need help like the previous three. Really makes many on the fence or tight fisted gamers rather nervous.
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Pre-E3 2011, Hopes and expectations.
With E3 coming up very shortly. The rumor mill has been blazing along quite insanely. Will we get a real Nintendo Console, will Sony ownup to the failing of the PSn network being hacked so hard, will we see a new Xbox console, so on and so on.
I do not like to get into spreading rumors or starting them. So all I shall rant about is what we SHOULD see at E3 this year.
Microsoft
I certainly think we may see a new console coming from Xbox this year. If it will be the successor to the 360, I do not know. It was only last year they announced the Slim. Which Didn't work as well as they toted it too, but still is a decent machine. Traditionally when a "slim" version of a console comes out, is quite often right before a new console comes out. Often due to tech and mechanical upgrades that were found via creating the new system. Some sort of handheld would not be too shocking, that is if Microsoft wants to get into that pool.
Kinect; I certainly hope they announce some updates to the full workings of the Kinect. I have one, and what they actually have controllable via the Kinect, is no where near as fantastic as they kept claiming it too be. Netflix is fail with Kinect, most of the rest of the system is all still only controlled via the controller, which is supposed to be us now. So there should definitely be some updates to Kinect, not to mention a load of REAL games for the Kinect. So far we just have Kinect versions of games the Wii made work. Although Kinect Bowling is sad.
Nintendo
Given the strangely high numbers of the 3DS, I expect to see many games for this handheld I shall never own. As for this new console they are saying will be there. This Project Cafe as it's been tagged online as. Highly unlikely to be a followup to the Wii, ie Wii 2 seems very unlikely. It will for sure have a better graphics system, just for the main reason that the Wii lost so many people, of the hardcore gamer to that alone. I would certainly hope that they will announce a decent amount of games for it's launch. Mario, Zelda, are for sure needed to launch a new console. Even though they failed with that for the 3DS launch. I personally don't know how it sold so well. I think I only know ONE person who bought it.
Sony; Duh duh dun. They used to be the big dog, now they've been shown to really only be a chihuahua with a large bark. Sony did a great job on developing the PS3. But failed utterly on making a pool of games that made people need to get it. With all the fails it has gone though, the ApocalyPS3, the recent Hack and downfall of the PSN network. Sony will be very shiny and most likely have Kevin Butler doing most of the talking. In an attempt to sidestep the Hack issue, via humor. Their show will be very glitzy and ostentatious. I had begun to seriously think about getting a PS3, right before the hack, now my want has gone from 89 of 100, to 10. Which is less then when it first came out. If they announce some new console, or even just a revamp of the PS3, which offers backwards compatibility, some sort of overall password protection, a much more fluid and fleshed out menu. I could see myself getting one in 2 years. haha.
Now as for developers. We will obviously see many of the games we currently know about. Such as Skyrim, Mass Effect 3, Rage, many others. So I won't be going into any of those. Although I do certainly hope for many reveals from Bioware about Mass Effect 3, especially since it was delayed to next year.
Bioware; I expect very greatly we shall see some working footage, if not a demo of Dragon Age 3. Why, because Dragon Age 2, while not being a bad game. Was clearly a setup for the next game. It was truly sad how much if anything was actually transferred from Origins/Awakenings. My hope is that data was stored during the transfer, to make a bigger impact later on. I among with many others who had been looking forward to a Sequel to what is easily one of the best Roleplaying games in a long awhile. Were expecting a bit more. Bioware even said they were going to deliver, much more than they did. That being said, the sequel to Dragon Age 2, should be out that much sooner. Either by the end of the year, or beginning of next year. I do not know what else we shall see from Bioware, possibly a hint or cutscene of a spinoff to something from the Mass Effect universe. I personally would love to play as Garrus, even possibly from the beginning of his career, to past the ending of Mass Effect 3.
Bethesda; I would hope for something related to the Fallout franchise gets let known is in the works. I am hoping for some sort of war between the east and the west coast versions of Fallout. Bethesda tends to take their time on games, so I don't know if anything much will be shown beyond what most of us already know about. Prey 2, Skyrim, and Rage. A new IP would be cool, but given the failings of Brink, I am also doubtful they will do anything until any new IP's in development are more fleshed to let be known.
Rockstar; Given the overt success of LA Noire, they will very likely announce that a sequel is being made, but it won't be done for quite some time. A Sequel to Red Dead Redemption would be very cool. A sequel to the Grand Theft Auto series, is almost a given.
Konami and Kojima; Given the fact Kojima will not be at E3 this year. It is unlikely we will see anything related to the Metal Gear franchise. Unless it's a lie to make us all shocked when the lights go down and Kojima walks out with Snake or something. Otherwise, I expect some Castlevania game is very likely.
Otherly than those developers. I do expect to see something from Namco, probably not much, something from Capcom related to the Megaman Universe MMO deal is likely. Won't see much out of Blizzard, since they do their own deal Blizzcon. Atlus while my favorite Japanese developer/publisher, they are always a bit random on upcoming games. I would love to see a sequel to Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne though, easily the best SMT ever. Which we haven't heard much from on consoles for awhile.
In summation, E3 will always be gamer Mecha. It will be shiny, epic and many games will be announced, and demoed. I would love to go sometime, but that is not the case this year. I shall however be watching it on G4TV, as well as on Gametrailers.com.
Keep one thing in mind though always. If they don't show gameplay footage, only cutscenese or FMV's. Do not think a game will actually look like that later on. Square taught us all that one pretty hard, many times.
I do not like to get into spreading rumors or starting them. So all I shall rant about is what we SHOULD see at E3 this year.
Microsoft
I certainly think we may see a new console coming from Xbox this year. If it will be the successor to the 360, I do not know. It was only last year they announced the Slim. Which Didn't work as well as they toted it too, but still is a decent machine. Traditionally when a "slim" version of a console comes out, is quite often right before a new console comes out. Often due to tech and mechanical upgrades that were found via creating the new system. Some sort of handheld would not be too shocking, that is if Microsoft wants to get into that pool.
Kinect; I certainly hope they announce some updates to the full workings of the Kinect. I have one, and what they actually have controllable via the Kinect, is no where near as fantastic as they kept claiming it too be. Netflix is fail with Kinect, most of the rest of the system is all still only controlled via the controller, which is supposed to be us now. So there should definitely be some updates to Kinect, not to mention a load of REAL games for the Kinect. So far we just have Kinect versions of games the Wii made work. Although Kinect Bowling is sad.
Nintendo
Given the strangely high numbers of the 3DS, I expect to see many games for this handheld I shall never own. As for this new console they are saying will be there. This Project Cafe as it's been tagged online as. Highly unlikely to be a followup to the Wii, ie Wii 2 seems very unlikely. It will for sure have a better graphics system, just for the main reason that the Wii lost so many people, of the hardcore gamer to that alone. I would certainly hope that they will announce a decent amount of games for it's launch. Mario, Zelda, are for sure needed to launch a new console. Even though they failed with that for the 3DS launch. I personally don't know how it sold so well. I think I only know ONE person who bought it.
Sony; Duh duh dun. They used to be the big dog, now they've been shown to really only be a chihuahua with a large bark. Sony did a great job on developing the PS3. But failed utterly on making a pool of games that made people need to get it. With all the fails it has gone though, the ApocalyPS3, the recent Hack and downfall of the PSN network. Sony will be very shiny and most likely have Kevin Butler doing most of the talking. In an attempt to sidestep the Hack issue, via humor. Their show will be very glitzy and ostentatious. I had begun to seriously think about getting a PS3, right before the hack, now my want has gone from 89 of 100, to 10. Which is less then when it first came out. If they announce some new console, or even just a revamp of the PS3, which offers backwards compatibility, some sort of overall password protection, a much more fluid and fleshed out menu. I could see myself getting one in 2 years. haha.
Now as for developers. We will obviously see many of the games we currently know about. Such as Skyrim, Mass Effect 3, Rage, many others. So I won't be going into any of those. Although I do certainly hope for many reveals from Bioware about Mass Effect 3, especially since it was delayed to next year.
Bioware; I expect very greatly we shall see some working footage, if not a demo of Dragon Age 3. Why, because Dragon Age 2, while not being a bad game. Was clearly a setup for the next game. It was truly sad how much if anything was actually transferred from Origins/Awakenings. My hope is that data was stored during the transfer, to make a bigger impact later on. I among with many others who had been looking forward to a Sequel to what is easily one of the best Roleplaying games in a long awhile. Were expecting a bit more. Bioware even said they were going to deliver, much more than they did. That being said, the sequel to Dragon Age 2, should be out that much sooner. Either by the end of the year, or beginning of next year. I do not know what else we shall see from Bioware, possibly a hint or cutscene of a spinoff to something from the Mass Effect universe. I personally would love to play as Garrus, even possibly from the beginning of his career, to past the ending of Mass Effect 3.
Bethesda; I would hope for something related to the Fallout franchise gets let known is in the works. I am hoping for some sort of war between the east and the west coast versions of Fallout. Bethesda tends to take their time on games, so I don't know if anything much will be shown beyond what most of us already know about. Prey 2, Skyrim, and Rage. A new IP would be cool, but given the failings of Brink, I am also doubtful they will do anything until any new IP's in development are more fleshed to let be known.
Rockstar; Given the overt success of LA Noire, they will very likely announce that a sequel is being made, but it won't be done for quite some time. A Sequel to Red Dead Redemption would be very cool. A sequel to the Grand Theft Auto series, is almost a given.
Konami and Kojima; Given the fact Kojima will not be at E3 this year. It is unlikely we will see anything related to the Metal Gear franchise. Unless it's a lie to make us all shocked when the lights go down and Kojima walks out with Snake or something. Otherwise, I expect some Castlevania game is very likely.
Otherly than those developers. I do expect to see something from Namco, probably not much, something from Capcom related to the Megaman Universe MMO deal is likely. Won't see much out of Blizzard, since they do their own deal Blizzcon. Atlus while my favorite Japanese developer/publisher, they are always a bit random on upcoming games. I would love to see a sequel to Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne though, easily the best SMT ever. Which we haven't heard much from on consoles for awhile.
In summation, E3 will always be gamer Mecha. It will be shiny, epic and many games will be announced, and demoed. I would love to go sometime, but that is not the case this year. I shall however be watching it on G4TV, as well as on Gametrailers.com.
Keep one thing in mind though always. If they don't show gameplay footage, only cutscenese or FMV's. Do not think a game will actually look like that later on. Square taught us all that one pretty hard, many times.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Gaming the story, the story of LA Noire.
Pre-review of LA Noire
To start I'll say I have not always been a very big fan of Rockstar games. I found most of the Grand Theft series, rather annoying, and repetitive. However, after I heard good things about Red Dead Redemption, I gave it a try, to find a rather fantastic story and gameplay. So when they announced much of the same group would be working on a new big title I was curious. Then Rockstar announced they were pouring a huge chunk of money into the game, to make it the first of its kind in facial technique and technology. I got very curious. I even started getting the same tingle I did when I began reading up on Mass Effect 2. If you know me, then you know how I feel about the best series ever. ;)
Story
The story of LA Noire follows the events of Cole Phelps beginning as a beat cop. I won't get into much of the story, outrightly avoiding it. Due to LA Noire being a story that you play. It is quite well written, has some fun sidetracks, and twists. I have not completed it yet, I am currently on disc 2. Xbox version has 3 discs, whereas the PS3 blu-ray only has one. I will say that it feels like the old 1900's mystery tales. A very fluidic feel to the overall experience of the gameplay melding into the story makes it sometimes feel like you aren't even playing a game at all. More like you are watching a movie, and a controller just happens to be in your hands.
Gameplay
Controls for LA Noire are almost identical to Red Dead Redemption. Which is fine for the most part, you won't worry too much about insta death if you aren't able to turn at just the wrong time. They aren't so easy that it doesn't feel challenging, and are not so hard you find you need a new TV because you threw your controller into it.
The only downside to the controls comes in the place of the driving mechanics. Wherein the control of the car when going at any speed needed for a car chase goes from passable to rather irritating. You are either overcompensating or the car isn't responsive at all. When this was a horse in Red Dead, it is okay, due to well a horse is a live creature. TO a degree it still has some say in how it should move. A car however, even a 1940's car should work a bit more smoothly than this. However, while most car chases may become rather annoying. If it is a plot mission, after 3 fails the game lets you skip the car chase sequence, and go straight to the follow-up storyline. Without any real consequence of said action. Save you will need to do it eventually if you are an achievement whore.
Overall
The game is simply magnificent, it's a joy to play. You will lose time whilst playing it. Needing to "read" the facial expressions of the NPCs is rather fascinating, although it can sometimes be annoying, due to ones own proclivities. I must give Rockstar a rather huge set of props for achieving a rather huge step in facial technologies. Now while this kind of technology means you will likely not be making your "own" character with it. I am sure someone somewhere will figure out how. It will likely be awhile though. It is still an awesome thing to behold whilst playing the game.
Buying this game if you already haven't is advised if you like a good gaming experience.
(I shall have another more full review once I have beaten the game.)
To start I'll say I have not always been a very big fan of Rockstar games. I found most of the Grand Theft series, rather annoying, and repetitive. However, after I heard good things about Red Dead Redemption, I gave it a try, to find a rather fantastic story and gameplay. So when they announced much of the same group would be working on a new big title I was curious. Then Rockstar announced they were pouring a huge chunk of money into the game, to make it the first of its kind in facial technique and technology. I got very curious. I even started getting the same tingle I did when I began reading up on Mass Effect 2. If you know me, then you know how I feel about the best series ever. ;)
Story
The story of LA Noire follows the events of Cole Phelps beginning as a beat cop. I won't get into much of the story, outrightly avoiding it. Due to LA Noire being a story that you play. It is quite well written, has some fun sidetracks, and twists. I have not completed it yet, I am currently on disc 2. Xbox version has 3 discs, whereas the PS3 blu-ray only has one. I will say that it feels like the old 1900's mystery tales. A very fluidic feel to the overall experience of the gameplay melding into the story makes it sometimes feel like you aren't even playing a game at all. More like you are watching a movie, and a controller just happens to be in your hands.
Gameplay
Controls for LA Noire are almost identical to Red Dead Redemption. Which is fine for the most part, you won't worry too much about insta death if you aren't able to turn at just the wrong time. They aren't so easy that it doesn't feel challenging, and are not so hard you find you need a new TV because you threw your controller into it.
The only downside to the controls comes in the place of the driving mechanics. Wherein the control of the car when going at any speed needed for a car chase goes from passable to rather irritating. You are either overcompensating or the car isn't responsive at all. When this was a horse in Red Dead, it is okay, due to well a horse is a live creature. TO a degree it still has some say in how it should move. A car however, even a 1940's car should work a bit more smoothly than this. However, while most car chases may become rather annoying. If it is a plot mission, after 3 fails the game lets you skip the car chase sequence, and go straight to the follow-up storyline. Without any real consequence of said action. Save you will need to do it eventually if you are an achievement whore.
Overall
The game is simply magnificent, it's a joy to play. You will lose time whilst playing it. Needing to "read" the facial expressions of the NPCs is rather fascinating, although it can sometimes be annoying, due to ones own proclivities. I must give Rockstar a rather huge set of props for achieving a rather huge step in facial technologies. Now while this kind of technology means you will likely not be making your "own" character with it. I am sure someone somewhere will figure out how. It will likely be awhile though. It is still an awesome thing to behold whilst playing the game.
Buying this game if you already haven't is advised if you like a good gaming experience.
(I shall have another more full review once I have beaten the game.)
Friday, May 13, 2011
On the Brink
Brink
I recently obtained my copy of Brink, a game created by Splash Damage. Who also developed two versions of "Enemy Territory" Quake wars, and Wolfenstein. I person never played those games, so I won't comment. Brink was produced and published by Bethesda Software, a company who has been buying up and publishing games like crazy in the past 5 years. Zenimax is the company that owns Bethesda, Zenimax went around and bought up many other game magazines, such as EGM.
Now if anyone doesn't know Bethesda's works (Fallout 3, and all the Elder scrolls games) then you probably don't care much about the rest of this review/rant.
Brink, was first announced awhile back at E3. It looked amazing, had a unique art style, which is still probably the best thing about the game. Had a decent albeit not original idea for a story. Now the big deal they made was about a new play mechanic, called SMART. Which stands for Smooth Movement against Random Terrain, ie you will be able to do some awesome Parkour moves. Before Launch they were also toting how many customization options there were. Releasing numbers on how many variant possibilities there were. Now for the break down.
Story
Now what we were told at E3, and subsequently afterwards. Is that the Ark was made to save humanity, taking 5000 people to do so. Now the Ark years later is over populated, and in desperate need of supplies. It would be up to you to either raid for supplies, or defend. What we ended up with was a story nothing like mentioned. There is an Ark, but it is however a huge city-state now. That divided itself from the original inhabitants, and the refugees. Now what happens when you divide the rich from the poor, in such an elaborate way? Revolution, of course.
Customization
Many gamers are now used to a level of control when it comes to customizing. Either having had played MMO's where you have a decent amount of control. Or ironically by having played other games by Bethesda, such as almost all the Elder Scrolls games. When you actually go to make a character, you get slight flashes of well.. racism. You pick from a group of faces, all very standout as being sterotypical. If you pick a white guy, you can only slightly change the colors of whiteness. If you pick a black guy, same thing occurs. You can't actually make your face, nor really pick your skin color. So on.
Now armor and so on, they already said would just be an aesthetic deal. Which im fine with, I still had lots of fun with Halo: Reach's armor ingame. Brink however only gives you about 2 options from their toted large amount of customizable parts. Until you of course play through the game and earn experience. Okay fine, while stupid, due to most of your first options being rather lame. I felt a bit lied too, as they made such a big deal of customizing, but then put it all behind exp doors. Like the hot girl you get back to your house, and after getting all her clothes off you find she has a chastity belt on, too which she forgot the key at home.
Gameplay and the SMART system.
I was really looking forward to the parkour nature they kept showing in gameplay footage, and trailers. What they fail to mention is the entire game is First person view ONLY. Why is this bad, since it is an FPS game. Well, imagine you want to run up a wall and then grab the railing to your left. Well, now reimagine that, but as soon as you get to the wall, ALL you can see is wall and have now completely lost depth perception, and character placement. You look left in hopes to grab the railing, but you did it too soon, and jumped under the stairs. This happens often, another thing that happens often is the SMART system not working. I had plenty of times where stairs became an obstacle to movement. The jump button seems to work best for most everything anyways. The environs weren't even developed to take advantage of the SMART system.
Know what else happens often, death. This game was said to have a drop-in drop-out gameplay mechanic to its single/co-op/multiplayer sides. I was very curious how they were going to do such a thing. Like does your friend take over one of your squad mates, or does your friend just pop in when someone else dies. Neither, all sides of the game are all based on multiplayer. This means that your squad when in single mode. Are all daft 12 year olds, like you'd be playing with online. Who will go off and do their own thing, getting killed and never backing you up, ever. Resulting in you dieing multiple, upon multiple times.
Much of your death is due to the fact the enemy hits hard fast and accurate. Something you will NEVER say you can do. Your character turns like he is walking through waist deep pudding, aiming is either oversensitive or under. Never the two shall meet.
Overall
I was greatly depressed and disappointed bu Brink. I had big hopes that this game would be awesome. The dev diaries and trailers all made it seem like the team and game had been happy and polished greatly. Brink however clearly had either NOT been gameplay tested outside of the developers, or they forgot to gamepley test at all.
Unless you have a dedicated group of friends to play with you. Brink is a pass.
I recently obtained my copy of Brink, a game created by Splash Damage. Who also developed two versions of "Enemy Territory" Quake wars, and Wolfenstein. I person never played those games, so I won't comment. Brink was produced and published by Bethesda Software, a company who has been buying up and publishing games like crazy in the past 5 years. Zenimax is the company that owns Bethesda, Zenimax went around and bought up many other game magazines, such as EGM.
Now if anyone doesn't know Bethesda's works (Fallout 3, and all the Elder scrolls games) then you probably don't care much about the rest of this review/rant.
Brink, was first announced awhile back at E3. It looked amazing, had a unique art style, which is still probably the best thing about the game. Had a decent albeit not original idea for a story. Now the big deal they made was about a new play mechanic, called SMART. Which stands for Smooth Movement against Random Terrain, ie you will be able to do some awesome Parkour moves. Before Launch they were also toting how many customization options there were. Releasing numbers on how many variant possibilities there were. Now for the break down.
Story
Now what we were told at E3, and subsequently afterwards. Is that the Ark was made to save humanity, taking 5000 people to do so. Now the Ark years later is over populated, and in desperate need of supplies. It would be up to you to either raid for supplies, or defend. What we ended up with was a story nothing like mentioned. There is an Ark, but it is however a huge city-state now. That divided itself from the original inhabitants, and the refugees. Now what happens when you divide the rich from the poor, in such an elaborate way? Revolution, of course.
Customization
Many gamers are now used to a level of control when it comes to customizing. Either having had played MMO's where you have a decent amount of control. Or ironically by having played other games by Bethesda, such as almost all the Elder Scrolls games. When you actually go to make a character, you get slight flashes of well.. racism. You pick from a group of faces, all very standout as being sterotypical. If you pick a white guy, you can only slightly change the colors of whiteness. If you pick a black guy, same thing occurs. You can't actually make your face, nor really pick your skin color. So on.
Now armor and so on, they already said would just be an aesthetic deal. Which im fine with, I still had lots of fun with Halo: Reach's armor ingame. Brink however only gives you about 2 options from their toted large amount of customizable parts. Until you of course play through the game and earn experience. Okay fine, while stupid, due to most of your first options being rather lame. I felt a bit lied too, as they made such a big deal of customizing, but then put it all behind exp doors. Like the hot girl you get back to your house, and after getting all her clothes off you find she has a chastity belt on, too which she forgot the key at home.
Gameplay and the SMART system.
I was really looking forward to the parkour nature they kept showing in gameplay footage, and trailers. What they fail to mention is the entire game is First person view ONLY. Why is this bad, since it is an FPS game. Well, imagine you want to run up a wall and then grab the railing to your left. Well, now reimagine that, but as soon as you get to the wall, ALL you can see is wall and have now completely lost depth perception, and character placement. You look left in hopes to grab the railing, but you did it too soon, and jumped under the stairs. This happens often, another thing that happens often is the SMART system not working. I had plenty of times where stairs became an obstacle to movement. The jump button seems to work best for most everything anyways. The environs weren't even developed to take advantage of the SMART system.
Know what else happens often, death. This game was said to have a drop-in drop-out gameplay mechanic to its single/co-op/multiplayer sides. I was very curious how they were going to do such a thing. Like does your friend take over one of your squad mates, or does your friend just pop in when someone else dies. Neither, all sides of the game are all based on multiplayer. This means that your squad when in single mode. Are all daft 12 year olds, like you'd be playing with online. Who will go off and do their own thing, getting killed and never backing you up, ever. Resulting in you dieing multiple, upon multiple times.
Much of your death is due to the fact the enemy hits hard fast and accurate. Something you will NEVER say you can do. Your character turns like he is walking through waist deep pudding, aiming is either oversensitive or under. Never the two shall meet.
Overall
I was greatly depressed and disappointed bu Brink. I had big hopes that this game would be awesome. The dev diaries and trailers all made it seem like the team and game had been happy and polished greatly. Brink however clearly had either NOT been gameplay tested outside of the developers, or they forgot to gamepley test at all.
Unless you have a dedicated group of friends to play with you. Brink is a pass.
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